I hear this all the time, “How cool, you’re a makeup artist” and then I usually get asked a hundred questions on my biggest tips, favourite products and who I have worked on. But, every face is different and I may use different techniques for each face, but there are always my go-to’s.
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I have worked with all skin tones, face shapes and all ages over the years and every woman has different concerns, but there are a few that are very commonly asked and are pretty simple to get right.
We can all be a makeup artist if we understand textures, highlight and shade and face structure. If you can grasp these three elements, you are definitely winning when it comes to applying makeup correctly!
Here are my top 3 tips:
THE DOUBLE CONCEAL
Concealer is a product that can go very wrong on the face especially under the eyes. Too little, well what’s the point and too much, it can age you!
Texture:
Concealer textures are very important as that determines the longevity of wear and with so many different styles, it can be a hard choice.
For me, I prefer a creamy concealer, not to thin or not too dry, but enough of a creamy feel to be able to manipulate the product, without it moving once applied.
A lot of people would think that if we are ageing or a dry/lined skin would need a very thin, almost liquid feel concealer. But as we move our face with expression, especially under the eyes, the thinner the texture the more it will move and crease as our skin creases. This will age you instantly.
A thicker, creamy style concealer, apart from having better coverage, they generally have enough weight and hold factor that they don’t budge once applied and pressed into the area of concern.
Less is best with concealer, being patted into the skin will give more hold and only conceal where needed for best results.
Shades:
The tone of your concealer generally shouldn’t be lighter or the exact same tone as your skin, as it is not being applied on your good areas, but areas that need a little cover or correction, e.g.; dark circles, redness, pigmentation.
As these concern areas are all slightly deeper in colour than your skin tone, you need a little deeper tone to be able to cover and correct the problem; otherwise you may be highlighting it by mistake.
When I use concealer, it is very minimal, but makes such a difference and in some cases, it’s all you need.
When you first wake up, we generally don’t rush to the mirror gushing over how good we look, (maybe once a year), but we do tend to focus on something negative.
Rather than grabbing your foundation and covering the whole face unnecessarily, just pinpoint and conceal any concerns first, you might be surprised of how much less foundation product you use, which is so much better for your skin.
Try a peachy shade if you are fair skin and try a deeper yellow based shade if you are olive skin – these warmer tones are needed to correct the blue or red tones that can come up under the eyes or around the nose, its these areas that are the most commonly concealed areas.
MB PRO TIP;
Did I mention the old wives tale about lighter concealer under your eyes works to brighten?
If you did that, your dark circles would become greyish looking in colour and stand out more! Noooo!
Ok, so now you have texture and shades covered, we are good to go for the double conceal…
We always need to correct before we highlight! Therefore applying a slightly warmer, and deeper shade of concealer, to the under eye dark circles first will counter-balance the shadows under our eyes and correct.
Then, once set, you can apply a lighter shade on top to brighten the area – Boom!
Yes, that’s how the celebs look so fresh under their eyes, two concealers – One corrects and the other over the top brightens – Never go more than x2 shades lighter than your skin tone, otherwise it may reflect too much light and look white!
Try a duo concealer palette where there is an in-built correct and highlight shade like M.A.C Studio Finish Concealer Duo (RRP $50)
HIGHLIGHTING
I always wondered why some women wanted to over bronze/tan there faces, it can show age and look muddy in photos, not giving any lift and/or life the face.
Our face structure has contours, and we should all know that highlighting certain areas – mainly where the sun would hit first, or the frontal bones – can give great lift to the face, even more face structure to add shape, plus obviously, who doesn’t want brighter skin?
So many women apply moisturser, then foundation, and powder and off they go…
The skin can be left looking flat with no light reflection, therefore less face structure – fine if you are 16, but in our late 20’s and beyond we start to lose some face structure, so using highlight can promote fallen areas and bring back glow and shape to the face.
Going back to texture, it is so important to know this for highlighting also and this can be that glow that a makeup artist can achieve, taking your look from drab to fab (did you like that one) in seconds!
Creamy highlighters are the most common and my favourite, as long as they aren’t sparkly or overly metallic – a little pearly is great, but anything over frosted can attract attention to fine lines on the skin.
I often apply these creamy highlighters under foundation on the cheekbones especially, so the light shines through foundation, appearing even more skin-like.
Powder highlighters have become more common, as they are not as heavy or sparkly as they used to be and better for an oily skin that wants a pop of glow, without looking shiny.
MB PRO TIP;
The best areas to apply a dash of highlight – A little goes a long way – are the cheekbones, bridge of nose, under the peak of the brow, cupids bow of top lip and even in between your brows to lift an often ageing area.
It is amazing what a difference a little pop of glow in the correct areas can do to the face, it brightens, light reflects areas that should be more lifted and therefore gives more face shape.
A must have right now is the limited edition Victoria Beckham x Estee Lauder Morning Aura Illuminating Cream (RRP $150)
THE EYE SCULPT
Everyone loves shiny, bright, metallic eye shadows – bronze and warm gold’s are so popular in todays world, but sometimes wearing them alone on a bare eye lid can be too much, and hard to blend.
Every celeb makeup you see has a touch of sculpting to it, mainly in the socket line, as this will recede away any ageing that is coming forward in that area, giving great lift.
We tend to use more shading application on the eyes than highlighting, as using highlight brings an area forward, but, our eye as we age comes forward naturally, either with puffiness/heavy lids or just a general eyelid sag or drop – not the best thing about getting older, that’s for sure!
MB PRO TIP;
Shading recedes, sculpts and pushes back these unwanted ageing effects and gives great lift to the eye socket – It has no light reflection that could promote the ageing area, so using anything deeper than your skin tone and being matte in finish will do the trick.
A beige, caramel and/or taupe shades work well as an eye sculpt and this is the first thing I apply for all eye shadow shades I may be using as my hero focal tones.
Application;
We want to apply a little on the mobile eyelid, but more in the socket area to sculpt that area and applying this shade while the eyes are open is a great way to see exactly any ageing coming forward that we need to recede away.
I also use this shade on the lower lash line and by doing this you are creating a light smokey effect which (as long as you don’t apply a very thin line) can half your under eye bags, as we have now sculpted the eye to make it stand out and not get crushed by ageing skin coming heavily on top and puffy from the under eye.
Once this ‘base’ shade of shading and sculpting has been applied and blended perfectly, and other more ‘hero’ shade can then be used over the top for perfect blend and pop to the eye – Deepen the outer area of the eye and pop the mobile eyelid with something metallic for best results!
Eye palettes are all the rage, but choose wisely with some taupe matte shades for your eye sculpt, as well as fun pop shades to then layer on top and in mobile lid…
Try Maybelline The Nudes Eye Palette ($21.99)
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